Month: October 2023

The best agave bars in Los Angeles

The best agave bars in Los Angeles

Published by Sam Flores

“You’ve got to put a bottle of mezcal on the ofrenda,” says Ivan Vasquez, owner of Madre Oaxacan Restaurant & Mezcaleria, with four locations across L.A. County and the largest small-batch mezcal collection in the U.S. “For me, and back in the villages, a bottle of mezcal has to be there. “On Día de los Muertos, you drink a copita with your loved ones,” Vasquez instructs. “It’s the only spirit that keeps our loved ones alive. When I drink mezcal on Día de los Muertos, I’m reunited with my grandpa. Thanks to him, I was introduced to mezcal.” While tequila has had a couple centuries to gain an international following, the rise of mezcal and regional spirits like sotol and bacanora is more recent. It was only in the ‘90s that mezcal gained Denomination of Origin (DO) status, which restricts legal and commercial use of the word, and paved the way for it to be sold across the globe. The spirit, which imparts earthy tasting notes, exploded in popularity over the pandemic, partially because of …

A guide to Los Feliz, Los Angeles: What to do, see, eat

A guide to Los Feliz, Los Angeles: What to do, see, eat

Published by Sam Flores

One of the greatest debates about Los Feliz is how to pronounce it: Some Angelenos say “Los FEE-lus,” while others prefer the Spanish pronunciation of “Los Fey-LEASE.” It’s an ongoing quarrel that can distract from the area itself — a shame, because what it offers is so rare. Get to know Los Angeles through the places that bring it to life. From restaurants to shops to outdoor spaces, here’s what to discover now. There aren’t many neighborhoods in Los Angeles where you can watch a film, listen to your favorite author talk about their latest book, go on a hike, catch a live concert, shop for vintage trends and fetch your weekly groceries, all without having to step foot out of your community. Let alone without having to hop into your car. This is perhaps the biggest flex about Los Feliz: There’s no need to leave unless you want to. And you’d risk losing your coveted parking spot anyway. “So much of my joy of being in L.A. is being able to step out of …

Best french fries and loaded fries in Los Angeles

Best french fries and loaded fries in Los Angeles

Published by Sam Flores

Even if confronted with loaded fries, I’ll do it. While still in my car after hitting a drive-through, I will be digging in prematurely at that container, my fingers probing desperately for my starchy prize, past layers of melted cheese, caramelized onions and pickles. Reaching into a crinkly, grease-dotted bag of French fries elicits a specific type of joy. Like those claw machines at arcades, your hand roots around blindly, searching for that perfect specimen. For me, it’s long and thin with crispy golden edges, a fluffy center and coated in salt. We are lovers of French fries in Los Angeles, and as our team has found below, many of our favorite restaurants and chefs take them quite seriously. Give the name, you might assume that the dish at hand was invented in France, but Belgium argues that their history began in the Meuse Valley in the 1680s, when residents would substitute fried potatoes for fish during the winters when the river froze over. Though that origin story has been disputed, UNESCO added the dish …

A guide to Boyle Heights, Los Angeles: What to do, see and eat

A guide to Boyle Heights, Los Angeles: What to do, see and eat

Published by Sam Flores

Every neighborhood in Los Angeles brings its own unique culture to the city, but perhaps none as proudly as Boyle Heights. Ask any local to define it and they’ll say it’s the real Eastside — and that it has an identity that’s separate from neighboring East L.A. Get to know Los Angeles through the places that bring it to life. From restaurants to shops to outdoor spaces, here’s what to discover now. A stone’s throw from downtown, Boyle Heights was the gateway for many different ethnic and religious groups to Los Angeles before World War II. With its lack of racially restrictive housing covenants, the neighborhood was considered the Ellis Island of the West Coast, and has been home to Mexicans, Jews, Japanese, Russians, African Americans and more. For the record: 2:04 p.m. Dec. 27, 2023Un Solo Sol’s menu is mostly organic, not entirely as stated in a previous version of this story. And it does use oil but does not deep fry its food. The remnants of this unique melting pot can still be …

A guide to Fairfax, Los Angeles: What to do, see, eat

A guide to Fairfax, Los Angeles: What to do, see, eat

Published by Sam Flores

Los Angeles County is sprawling and expansive, stretching through the dust-worn hills of Santa Clarita, the gondola-crowded canals of Long Beach and deep into the wilds of Angeles National Forest. It’s hard enough for locals to agree on which neighborhoods fall on the east or west side, let alone pinpoint its center. Get to know Los Angeles through the places that bring it to life. From restaurants to shops to outdoor spaces, here’s what to discover now. Yet Fairfax and the larger Mid-Wilshire area are about as close as you’ll get to identifying the apex of L.A. It’s true not just in the geographical sense — plug it in as your starting point and it’ll take you about 20 minutes to get just about anywhere in the city, as long as you don’t run into traffic — but in a symbolic sense too. Fairfax isn’t the most dense, touristed or even diverse section of the city, but the district is so packed with landmarks, history, entertainment, art, retail and cuisine that it’s become a natural …

A guide to Koreatown, Los Angeles: What to do, see and eat

A guide to Koreatown, Los Angeles: What to do, see and eat

Published by Sam Flores

My first impression of Koreatown wasn’t a great one. In 2006, a family friend picked me up at LAX. I was 11, and all I could think about was how I had said goodbye to my relatives in Seoul just hours earlier. As soon as I got in the car, I started crying. As we drove off the 10 Freeway and onto Vermont Boulevard, I looked out the window. Get to know Los Angeles through the places that bring it to life. From restaurants to shops to outdoor spaces, here’s what to discover now. “This place looks like Seoul in the 1970s,” I blurted out. Any illusion I had of the United States — the glitz of Hollywood and the palm tree-lined beaches — vanished in that moment. In Koreatown, high-rise buildings — which defined Seoul — were few and far between. Signs had distinctly outdated and tacky fonts. The jimjilbang (Korean bathhouse) I went to was old and lacked the amenities that seemed standard back in Korea. But over the 17 years I’ve called …

A guide to Inglewood, California: What to do, see and eat

A guide to Inglewood, California: What to do, see and eat

Published by Sam Flores

Peer out the window on a descending flight into LAX and, like with those old Magic Eye posters, the vague concrete sprawl of the city starts coming into focus as recognizable landmarks. The giant doughnut atop Randy’s. The sprawling 405 freeway. The silver horn-shaped stadium that gleams in the daylight and beams “SoFi” at night. Get to know Los Angeles through the places that bring it to life. From restaurants to shops to outdoor spaces, here’s what to discover now. For visitors, Inglewood is their introduction to L.A. and perhaps the West Coast. For Angelenos, it’s the final sign of a safe journey home. Once marked by its convenience to the airport and the Forum that first opened in 1967, Inglewood has undergone a dramatic transformation in recent years, a result of new and projected developments. SoFi Stadium, home of the L.A. Rams and L.A. Chargers, might have had a tepid start when it opened in 2020 during the pandemic, but it’s now in full swing after hosting Beyoncé and Taylor Swift’s world tours this …

A guide to Silver Lake, Los Angeles: What to do, see and eat

A guide to Silver Lake, Los Angeles: What to do, see and eat

Published by Sam Flores

Long before Silver Lake became the kind of place where throngs of 20- and 30-somethings flock on a Saturday night to sip natural wine and run from one dance floor to the next, there was a man named Herman Silver. Get to know Los Angeles through the places that bring it to life. From restaurants to shops to outdoor spaces, here’s what to discover now. He was a city councilman and water commissioner at the turn of the 20th century, and he’s the one who pushed for the creation of a reservoir among the hills east of Hollywood and and west of the L.A. River. That was 1907. Once city officials named the reservoir for Mr. Silver, people started calling the area Silver Lake. (Yes, the name is two words — not Silverlake, as some local businesses would lead you to believe.) These days, the area is best known for the Modernist architecture that clings to its hillsides, the chic young families who cavort in Silver Lake Meadow and the bustling nightlife that thrives along …

The best places to take sewing classes in LA

The best places to take sewing classes in LA

Published by Sam Flores

Walking into Sawtelle’s Sewing Arts feels a bit like stepping into Oz. The nondescript white building, formerly a post office, has tall walls brimming with more than 30,000 yards of multicolored fabrics along with sewing notions and embroidery supplies and kits. Garment sewing and quilting classes are held in a small classroom in the back corner of the store outfitted with adjustable-height worktables covered in cutting mats. Owned by mother-daughter duo Julie and Rachel Marquez, who acquired the business from its previous owner in 2017, Sewing Arts is an authorized Bernina dealer and service center that repairs most sewing machine brands but exclusively sells Berninas. “Our goal is to build a community, a makers space versus just a retail space or school,” said Julie. “Our shop is the ‘home store’ for the L.A. Modern Quilt Guild, the original guild the Modern Quilt Guild came from.” The Marquezes are the third owners since 1955 of the business, originally known as Bay Cities Sewing. That store stood on what is now the Third Street Promenade in Santa …

Best burgers in L.A.: smashburgers, vegetarian and more

Best burgers in L.A.: smashburgers, vegetarian and more

Published by Sam Flores

What is the burger without Los Angeles? Along the historic Route 66 highway in Pasadena in 1924, 16-year-old Lionel Sternberger reportedly was the first to melt cheese on a burger patty at Rite Spot, his father’s sandwich stand where the teen worked as a short-order cook. A little over a decade later in 1936, Bob Wian opened Bob’s Pantry in Glendale, where he created the “double-deck hamburger” with two beef patties and a middle bun in between. Renamed Bob’s Big Boy, Wian’s carhop drive-in opened a second, still-standing location in Burbank in 1938. Rumored to have been inspired by Wian’s success, the first McDonald’s opened on Route 66 in San Bernardino in 1940. On the south side of town, James Henry Hawkins arrived in Watts from Arkansas and opened his eponymous Hawkins food stand in 1939. The joint quickly became known for its juicy, satiating burgers, and today Hawkins House of Burgers is run by Cynthia Hawkins, one of Hawkins’ 14 children. In Jefferson Park, Lovie Yancey and her then-husband opened the first Fatburger in …